My sources said that “the meeting was pre-arranged” and Long just wanted to “see where Lazio’s head’s at.”

“We are where we are, and I believe that in November Lazio will be on the Conservative ballot,” the source said.

If a party’s candidate for governor doesn’t get 50,000 votes in the election, it loses automatic ballot status.

But other than Lazio’s defeat, the Conservatives have some good victories last night. Their guys — Jay Townsend and Joe DioGuardi — won GOP primaries for both the U.S. Senate seats and they were able to fight to a standstill in the 23rd District primary between Matt Doheny and their candidate, Doug Hoffman.

Lazio is an attorney, so he could theoretically be removed from the Conservative Party ballot if he were nominated for (and accepted) a judgeship. Then a committee of Conservative Party elders could pick a new candidate. A guy like Carl Paladino, say.

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